


We don't hang out enough

by Troth



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 17:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15823503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troth/pseuds/Troth
Summary: "We never hung out enough" Magnus says to her as the world is ending. And that's ridiculous, because they spent 100 years stuck living together on a spaceship. But she knows what he really means. It was something they'd told each other many times throughout their friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

Lup was taking a rare day off from decoding the mongoose language with Taako and Barry. She enjoyed spending time with them but she was starting to get restless doing the same thing every day. She needed something new. Besides, it seemed like she would be stuck living with this crew for awhile now. It was about time she got to know them. 

Since she isn’t doing field work today she allows herself to sleep in a little. By the time she’s dressed and ready for the day she finds Magnus sitting on the couch, lost in thought as he absently carves away at a chunk of wood in his hands. 

“Magnus,” she says. Magnus startles and whips around to look at her, finally noticing her standing there.

“Oh, hey Lup,” he greets. “I thought you’d be out doing research by now.” Lup shrugs.

“Nah I’m taking a break today,” she says. “I was gonna go on a walk though. Do a little exploring. You should come. I feel like we don’t hang out enough.” Magnus considers this for a moment.

“Will Lucretia be ok on her own here though?” he asks. 

“Taako and Barry aren’t that far away. They can help her if she needs it,” she says dismissively. 

“Ok, then let’s go,” he says, setting carving aside.

The two of them head out to wander into the forest, waving goodbye to Taako and Barry as they pass them. It’s awkward at first. They hadn’t spent enough time together yet for conversation to come easily. Not only that, but Magnus seemed to be distracted today. His eyes look distant as they walk. But Lup could never stand the silence for long. 

“So, what’s on your mind big guy?” she asks.

“Oh, it’s nothing really,” he deflects. His hand comes up to rub anxiously at the back of his neck. It’s obvious that she’s being lied to.

“Are you sure? Cause it kinda seems like it might be something,” she prompts. Magnus looks at her for a moment before sighing in defeat. 

“I guess I’ve just been thinking about the day we left,” he admits. 

“Oh,” Lup says quietly. She should have expected that. Magnus seemed like he had a big heart. Of course he was still having trouble dealing with what happened. She was still struggling with it herself. 

“Yeah,” he says, matching her tone. He seems more closed off now. It was something she wasn’t used to from him. Of all of the crew, Magnus was the most easy going. Seeing him like this was unsettling. 

“I just—I don’t know how we’re supposed to move on from this, you know? We saw our whole world be consumed in seconds. Everyone we’ve ever known is gone. How are we supposed to ever be ok again after that?” 

Silence hangs heavily between them for a moment as Magnus takes a steadying breath. 

“I think it’s different for me and Taako,” Lup confesses. “I mean, what happened was horrible don’t get me wrong, but...we never had anyone down there. It’s always just been the two of us bouncing from place to place. This is kind of business as usual for us. I hate that all those people died, but we didn’t lose anything because of it. I’m guessing that’s not true for you?”

Magnus shakes his head no.

“Did you have family down there?” she asks gently. He nods. 

“I had my mom,” he confesses. “She did everything in her power to help me go on this mission, even though it scared her. She made me promise a hundred times that I’d come home safe to her. And now she’s gone and I never will.” 

He pauses for a moment, trying to regain his composure. 

“And I had friends too. From the institute and from home. They were some really good people, and in seconds they were all gone. We didn’t even do anything about it. We didn’t even try. Some of them had even signed up for this mission. They could have made it out. And instead I—“ Magnus’ voice broke off as he started crying in earnest. He presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying in vain to stem the tears. 

Lup gently pulls them from his face and squeezes them in her own. Magnus squeezes hers back and gives her a small grateful smile. 

“Listen, Magnus. You can’t blame yourself for what happened. It was horrible and tragic but it wasn’t your fault. There wasn’t anything we could have done,” she says. 

Magnus’ crying still wouldn’t relent. At a loss for what to do, she dragged him down by his hands into a tight hug. He had to hunch over to make it work, but soon his face was buried in her shoulder as he wept. 

“I know Mags, I know,” she murmured. “I wish we could have helped them too. But we’re still here and we’re gonna do our best to be ok. We’re gonna protect each other and build a new home and do everything in our power to keep this one safe.”

Magnus’ breathing begins to even out again as she speaks. When he finally pulls away from her his eyes are puffy and his face is soaked with tears. Still, he manages to give her a small smile.

“Thank you Lup. You’re right, I’m really grateful I still have you guys at least. And we’re gonna be ok, right?”

“Right,” Lup confirms with a decisive nod of her head. “Oh and Magnus? You gotta talk to one of us about this kind of stuff. Don’t just try to bottle it up and pretend your ok.”

“I’ll do my best,” he promises.

“Good. Now let’s head back to the Starblaster and do some training. You’re never gonna beat the Power Bear if you keep slacking off,” Lup teases. 

Magnus laughs and allows himself to be dragged by the hand back towards the ship. And for the first time since they’ve left their home world, he starts to feel like things are going to be ok.


	2. Chapter 2

“There’s gotta be something we can do,” says Barry.

The crew is having an impromptu family meeting. They all sit circled around the kitchen table, plates pushed aside from the lunch they’d all picked at halfheartedly. Well--they weren’t all there. The absence of both of the twins was glaringly obvious. It was already shaping up to be a bad cycle. They’d lost Taako early on this year. And Lup…

“We can’t just let her hole up in her room for the rest of the year,” Barry continues. 

Davenport sighs deeply and shakes his head.

“I’m not sure there’s much we can do for her,” he says. “From what I understand the twins have never been separated before. Even knowing that he’s going to come back, Taako’s death is going to be extremely hard on her. She’s never had to be without him before.”

“So what? We just wait it out until Taako gets back?” Barry demands. Davenport opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by Magnus.

“I’m gonna go talk to her,” he declares. The other four turn their attention towards him with uncertainty written across their faces.

“You sure that’s a good idea, kid?” Merle asks.

“I dunno but I’m gonna do it anyways. We’ve gotta do something right?” he responds. Before the others can protest he strides out of the kitchen and towards Lup’s quarters. He pauses outside of her door and presses his ear to its surface, trying to gauge what exactly he was getting himself into. He was met only with silence. Shrugging, he knocks lightly on the door.

“Lup?” he calls. There’s no response. He cracks the door open slowly until it’s just wide enough to slip inside. He closes the door behind him as he enters and takes in the sight before him.

Lup is lying on her back in the center of the bed, staring up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. Her breathing was even but Magnus could see the tears running steadily down her face. In her hands she was clutching Taako’s signature wizard hat. She worried at the edges of it where it was beginning to fray. Taako cared for that hat in a way only rivaled by how Barry cared for his jeans. Mending it would probably be one of the first things he’d do when he returned.

Magnus watches her for a moment waiting for some kind of response. She doesn’t even spare him a glance. Just keeps running her thumb over the worn fabric.

“Hey,” he says, trying to get her to at least look at him.

“What are you doing here Magnus?” she asks him quietly.  
He rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck. 

“I just wanted to come see you. I feel like we don’t hang out enough,” he says. Lup huffs a quiet laugh and finally turns her head to face him. A small smile graced her lips, broken and pained but there all the same. It came nowhere near reaching her eyes but it was a start. 

“You just wanna hang out huh?” she asks. Magnus nods. She spends another second considering him before scooting over on the bed to make room for him. 

“Come on over then,” she says, patting the newly empty space. Magnus’ face lights up and he hurriedly joins her on the bed. Lup carefully sets the hat to the side in favor of searching through the items on her nightstand. When she turns back to him she’s holding up a small bottle triumphantly in her hand. 

“You ever paint your nails before Mags?” she asks.

“No,” he says.

“Well you’re about to.” She drags his hand over to rest in her lap and unscrews the cap of the bottle. She takes his pinky finger in her hand before carefully dragging the brush over his nail, leaving behind a streak of hot pink. Magnus watches her work in silence. He can still clearly see the grief in her eyes but at least she seems more grounded as she focuses on her task. She’s halfway through his first hand when she finally speaks up.

“I just don’t know how to do this,” she confesses. The brush strokes come to a halt and her shoulders sag with defeat. 

“Well I’d hope that you know how to do this. You’re supposed to be teaching me,” Magnus jokes. The comment startles a laugh out of Lup. She slaps lightly at his shoulder.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she says. The smile slowly drops from her face. “I meant that...I’ve never been alone before. I’d never even considered that I could be. And now that he’s gone I don’t know what to do. I just...I feel so lost without him here.”

The thought hangs heavily between them as Magnus processes what she said. Lup goes back to absently painting his nails. 

“You know you’re not alone right? Me and the rest of the crew are all here for you,” Magnus says. 

“It’s not the same.”

“No, it’s not,” he agrees. “But we care about you Lup and we want you to be happy. We could never replace Taako, but we can try our best to fill in for him while he’s not here. He’d want you to be happy to, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she admits. She trades out his left hand for his right. “This will probably happen again, won’t it? Taako will be gone and I won’t be and I’ll have to go through the rest of the cycle without him.”

“Maybe,” Magnus says sadly. 

“It just...feels so weird without him here. Taako is a part of me, you know? He’s--he’s my heart. I’m not supposed to be without him. It just feels wrong.” She puts the finishing touches on his thumb nail before moving his hands back into his own lap.

“Now you have to do mine,” she tells him, passing him the bottle.

“Uh, I’m definitely gonna mess them up,” he says. She waves her hand dismissively before dropping it on his knee.

“That’s fine. It’ll probably come off in a few days anyways,” she says. Magnus takes her hand in his own and begins his clumsy attempt at painting her pinkie. There’s no conversation for awhile as she lets him concentrate. She just gives him pointers as he slowly gets the hang of it. 

“Hey, Magnus?” she says once he’s successfully finished with her left hand. 

“Yeah?” he asks. 

“If I ever die and leave Taako alone, promise me you’ll look after him,” she says.

Magnus tears his attention away from his work to look her in the eye. 

“I promise,” he says with all the sincerity he can muster. 

Lup gives him a grateful smile and lets him finish her nails. Once both of their polish is dry Lup finally feels ready to join the rest of the crew. It still hurts to be without her brother, but at least she isn’t completely on her own.


End file.
